May 31

Ghost Virus – Graham Masterton

The girl had been staring into her mirror all morning before she picked up the small bottle of sulphuric acid and poured it over her forehead.

Samira was a young woman with her whole life ahead of her. What could have brought her to this? DC Jerry Pardoe and DS Jamila Patel of Tooting Police suspect it’s suicide. But then a meek husband kills his wife, and the headteacher of the local school throws her pupils out of a window. It’s no longer a random outbreak of horrific crimes. It’s a deadly virus. And it’s spreading. Somehow, ordinary Londoners are being infected with an insatiable lust to murder. All of the killers were wearing second-hand clothes. Could these garments be possessed by some supernatural force?

The death count is multiplying. Now Jerry and Jamila must defeat the ghost virus, before they are all infected…

 

My thanks to Melanie at Head of Zeus for the chance to join the tour.

 

When I read a horror story I like to begin with the understanding that anything goes.  I don’t want a story which is content to ground its-self in the confines of reality, that is what psychological thrillers are meant to do.  I want an author to embrace the freedom of being able to do whatever they like to put their characters through the emotional wringer (and a fairly high body count is a bonus).

In Ghost Virus Graham Masterton has very much taken the freedom available to him and has infected some Londoners with an insatiable lust to murder. The common thread (no pun intended) is that all those infected have been exposed to second hand clothes which form a lethal symbiotic relationship with their host and drive them to kill.

As the carnage escalates we get two cops trying to make sense of these seemingly unrelated acts of violence. Jerry Pardoe and his new colleague Jamila Patel are perplexed by the horrific scenes they are called to investigate but soon start to see a pattern in the behaviour of the murderers.  The challenge they face is that there is no logical or rational explanation to accompany the events they are witnessing.

Graham Masterton has a dark and disturbing imagination and this comes through in Ghost Virus.  There is no glossing over the violent acts, the horror is very much front and centre of the story.  Horror fans will love it. As a frequent reader of police procedurals there was also a very strong investigation by Pardoe and Patel for me to enjoy too.  Everything I enjoy in a story – sit back, pick up the book and let the story flow around me. Bliss.

Fantastical horror and a criminal investigation. Will not be for the crime purists but I enjoyed this immensely.

 

Ghost Virus is published by Head of Zeus and is available in digital format.  You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ghost-Virus-Graham-Masterton/dp/1788545044/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1527632832&sr=1-1

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May 30

Rubicon – Ian Patrick

Two cops, both on different sides of the law – both with the same gangland boss in their sights.

Sam Batford is an undercover officer with the Metropolitan Police who will stop at nothing to get his hands on fearsome crime-lord Vincenzo Guardino’s drug supply.

DCI Klara Winter runs a team on the National Crime Agency, she’s also chasing down Guardino, but unlike Sam Batford she’s determined to bring the gangster to justice and get his drugs off the streets.

Set in a time of austerity and police cuts where opportunities for corruption are rife, Rubicon is a tense, dark thriller that is definitely not for the faint hearted.

 

My thanks to Fahrenheit Press for my review copy and to Emma Welton (Damppebbles) for the chance to join the Rubicon blog tour

 

On rare (but happy) occasions I sit down to write a review and cannot think of any way to convey just how much I loved the book I have just finished. Going forward I may refer to this predicament as The Rubicon Dilemma.

Rubicon is utterly brilliant and you should make sure you read this book as soon as possible.

Not sure what else I can add…

…

…

Okay some information about the book may help.  Sam Batford is working undercover for the Metropolitan Police, he is a wonderfully complex character who will do whatever it takes to complete his mission. But Sam is serving many masters and his motives and methods keep you guessing and you are never quite sure how he will behave next.

Sam is the main focus but we also keep track on DCI Winter – she wants drugs removed from the streets of London and will let nothing get in her way.  With the two leads operating in very different ways it is inevitable that Rubicon will deliver some delightfully twisted and tense situations for readers to enjoy.

Reading about Sam spinning so many plates and keeping up the facade of confident bravado is engrossing. Yet the readers also get sneak peeks at the pressures it brings on him when he is alone and his guard lowered.

There always seems to be something happening in Rubicon. Some books will see the story ebb and flow but with this story there never seemed a good point to put the book to the side (even when I *really* needed coffee). If you want a story which delivers dark, twisty entertainment then I cannot think of many finer examples. Ian Patrick delivers a wonderfully crafted tale of tension and intrigue and I just did not want to stop reading.

Top, top read. The purchase link is below – use it.

Rubicon is published by Fahrenheit Press and you can order a copy here: http://www.fahrenheit-press.com/books_rubicon.html

 

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March 20

Written in Bones – James Oswald

Written in BonesWhen a body is found in a tree in The Meadows, Edinburgh’s scenic parkland, the forensics suggest the corpse has fallen from a great height.

Detective Inspector Tony McLean wonders whether it was an accident, or a murder designed to send a chilling message?

The dead man had led quite a life: a disgraced ex-cop turned criminal kingpin who reinvented himself as a celebrated philanthropist.

As McLean traces the victim’s journey, it takes him back to Edinburgh’s past, and through its underworld – crossing paths with some of its most dangerous and most vulnerable people.

And waiting at the end of it all, is the truth behind a crime that cuts to the very heart of the city…

 

My thanks to Laura at Penguin for my review copy

A new Tony McLean novel from James Oswald is always met with great anticipation here at Grab This Book. I am a big fan of this series and love the balance that the author finds between cracking police procedural but with a dark, and sometimes supernatural, edge to the stories.

Written in Bones is the 7th title to feature Tony McLean, knowing the back story helps but is not essential – new readers can easily pick up the series without worry of too many spoilers and will not be overwhelmed with confusing links to past events. One of the things I enjoy most about James Oswald’s books is how accessible they are, the stories all flow really well and are nicely paced.

From the very first pages of Written in Bones I was hooked. A body is discovered in The Meadows, a pleasant park in Edinburgh city centre. However, the body is stuck high in a tree and it appears to have fallen out of the sky.  The only possible witness to the crime is a young boy who was walking his dog around The Meadows early in the morning. Unfortunately for McLean and his colleagues he does not appear to be the most reliable source for information as he maintains that he saw a dragon flying over the park at the time the body would have fallen into the tree.

Further investigation will reveal the young witness is the son of one of Edinburgh’s more notorious characters  – someone very well known to the police. Could this simply be a coincidence or does the child’s presence link to crimes committed by his father?  This element of an investigation could prove potentially tricky to some of McLean’s colleagues and Tony will be required to play politics around the station.

Although McLean can be a bit of a loose cannon at times, in Written in Bones there are new colleagues in the station and McLean will have to spend some of his time managing a team. The interaction between McLean and the younger, less experienced officers added a fun new angle to the story and I hope that we get to see a bit more of Tony in “mentor” mode.

Away from the mysterious body in a tree, Tony is also finding himself at a number of properties which have been subject to a break-in. He is pulled around the city and his investigations will leave someone unhappy – powerful people will not want the police sniffing around their operations. Back to that political pressure – Tony’s bosses will try to clip his wings and restrict his resources…can he find a way to make his already stretched team focus on more than one investigation?

I had great fun reading Written in Bones, it’s nice to be able to pick up a book which I know will entertain me and it did not fail to deliver the thrills and excitement that I look forward to in James Oswald’s writing. This has been a richly rewarding series thus far and Written in Bones only enhances the Tony McLean collection.

 

Written  in Bones is published by Michael Joseph and you can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Written-Bones-Inspector-McLean-7/dp/0718183673/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489962099&sr=8-1&keywords=james+oswald

 

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